Unspoken
by DesertCat
Summary: NejiTenten. She never told anyone.


Unspoken

**This is a oneshot I wrote a long time ago, and I just got around to typing and posting it. ****Just so you know, this takes place four years after the timeskip, so Gai's team would be about twenty. ****Naruto and all its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto****, not me. I'm not Masashi Kishimoto. Duh. **

Tenten eyed her sparring partner as her activated his Bykagan with mixed feelings. She felt confused every time she saw him. They were old teammates and training partners but (although no one else knew it) they were something more. Over the past few years he had kissed her countless times; sometimes crawling over to where she sat, panting, after their training and kissing her so sweetly and gently that she felt weightless. Other times he would sneak up behind her during the match, silent as a shadow, but instead of attacking he would pin her against a tree and press his mouth to hers so roughly and passionately that she was weak and moaning in his embrace. But he never once acknowledged these signs of affection. He never spoke about it (and Tenten followed his lead, as always), never asked her whether she minded or enjoyed it, never asked her out (actually, Tenten wasn't sure if he had ever even been on a date). She never told a soul about these little training incidents because she glumly wondered if they were just that – training. She didn't think that Neji was heartless enough to use his sparring partner (who had what she thought to be an obvious crush on him since their days at the academy) for kissing practice, but she had been wrong about him before. She told herself that she didn't care, that it wouldn't matter if when he was kissing her he was thinking about someone else. Someone with a bright smile and cheerful laugh, who had never seen the horrors of battle, who hands were soft and whose body was unscarred. She told herself it wouldn't matter, but she knew better. So life went on, just as it always had, and she hid away her doubts and fears, just as she always had. Until one day, a few weeks ago, Neji began to avoid her. He canceled their training and ignored her when they passed in the street. The only explanation she could think of was that he had started going out with the girl he had been practicing for, and he didn't need her any more. Then, today, out of the blue, he had asked for her to train with him again. And here they were, fighting just as they had years ago, before this whole mess had begun. They trained until the sun had nearly set and they called their match a draw. The both of them had, of course, improved over the years, but they had improved together. She lay, barely able to move after his attacks. He crawled to her, badly wounded by her weapons, and opened her charka veins again.

"Sorry" she murmured, ripping a strip of cloth from her sleeve and using it to bandage his leg.

He sighed. "No, I'm sorry. You must have thought I've been avoiding you."

"Then you weren't avoiding me?" she asked, tying off the bandage but not meeting his eyes.

"No, Tenten I-" he searched for words, and then pulled her into his lap. "Will you marry me?"

"W-what?"

He carefully rose, pulling her to her feet and taking her hands in his.

"I suppose I better do this properly." He let go of one of her hands and went down on one knee, wincing slightly, and pulled a small black velvet box out of his back pocket. He opened it with a slight smile on his face. The ring was beautiful. She gasped and Neji smiled even wider, and then asked again, "Tenten, will you marry me?"

"Oh Neji…yes!" she held out her hand with tears in her eyes and he slid the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly. He got to his feet rather gingerly and kissed her joyously. "So that's why you canceled our training?" she asked quietly.

"Yes. A branch member has to ask permission to get married, and I had to figure out your ring size without you realizing."

"How much did it cost?" she asked worriedly

"It doesn't matter; you're worth so much more."

She blushed slightly. "So you did all of this without knowing if I'd say yes?"

"I knew you'd say yes."

"How?"

"Because you kissed back."

**I typed up the last scene while listening to **_**Ellsworth **_**by Rascal Flatts and I nearly started crying! Even if you don't like country, that song is great. Sad, but great. Anyway, please review. **


End file.
